


First Impressions are The Hardest

by AUarchivist



Series: Age Of Despair [1]
Category: Hazbin Hotel (Web Series), Invader Zim, OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes, Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dark, Alternate Universe - Dystopia, Blood and Gore, Brother-Sister Relationships, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Dystopia, Gen, Hope vs. Despair, Human Experimentation, Hybrids, Irkens (Invader Zim), Kinda, Lovecraftian, Non-Human Humanoid Society, Parent-Child Relationship, Post-Apocalypse, Robots, also kinda - Freeform, cosmic horror, voltron cameos
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-04
Updated: 2021-01-04
Packaged: 2021-03-14 21:35:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,726
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28552470
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AUarchivist/pseuds/AUarchivist
Summary: A broken world, A warped reality.Enid, a hybrid woman haunted by the past seeks a better life for her and her ward Kaio and to evade the nameless order that seeks there recapture. But just when it seems that they might finally have some semblance of normalcy a bad run in leaves her trading one powerful enemy for another. With all hope seeming lost it returns in the form of a mysterious stranger who offers her a way out, but how can she trust a person whos words speak of friendship and niceties but whos actions are drenched in blood and violence. Although, perhaps the better question isDoes she have a choice?
Relationships: Enid & K.O. (OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes), Enid & Original Character(s), K.O. & original character(s)
Series: Age Of Despair [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2091885





	First Impressions are The Hardest

**Author's Note:**

> Written by AUarchivist
> 
> Edited by EmilyCammisa

First Nights are the Hardest

Author's Note: Hello, welcome to my. FIRST. STORY. EVER. WWWWWOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!... Well actually more like the first story I ever wrote that I have worked up the courage to actually post on deviantart/fanfiction/ wherever else I can think to post. 

I hope you like it, not sure if it's good, but it's mine so..yah..Oh by the way, I should warn you this story is..DARK...so please check the trigger warning list below to see if it’s right for ya. 

Trigger Warning: Torture, blood, depressing setting, body horror, blood, gore, violence, cults, human experimentation, PTSD, anxiety, scars (both mental and physical), 

(yep..it's gonna be one of THOSE stories, but hopefully I made it interesting..sorry in advance..ALRIGHT no MORE STALLING TO PROTECT my NON-EXISTENT DIGNITY. HERE WE GOOOO!!!!!)  
===============================================================================================================================================================

Bloop..Bloop..Bloop.

"Left..right..up..down..left..down..left..left." These were the thoughts running through the head of a young magenta haired girl.

The low hum of the fluorescent lights overhead filled the air around the girl, accompanying it was the sickly sweet jingle coming from the speakers in the upper corners of the room. On and on for as long as she had been there the same music played in an endless loop, never slowing, never stopping, soft enough to allow her to be aware of the rest of her surroundings, but loud enough that tuning it out was impossible.

Yet despite this, the girl’s focus was not on the eternal jingle, nor was it on the murals painted on the walls all showing happy children of various types wearing the same hospital gown as her, playing under the watchful eyes of the equally cheerful looking adults in long white lab coats all of witch seemed to have big eyes that stared directly at her. It was also not on the blurry window on the wall in front of her where one could see two dark silhouettes watching her. 

No, her focus was mainly on the large bright screen in front of her, more specifically the small black dot over the white background. The dot moved around the screen, and as it did, the child would follow it with their bright blue slit pupil eyes straining to keep direct eye contact with the small 2D sphere as it bounced around randomly, slowly getting faster and more erratic in its movements. 

She let out a low growl of irritation muffled by the muzzle they placed on her face. It had been put on her after a few close calls regarding staff and the number of fingers they had almost decreased (and one instance where it was not such a close call). 

Her eyes burned and ached from being kept open for so long, yet she dared not blink or even rub them. Even if she wanted to scrub away the aching from her eyes, she couldn't, not with her arms and hands strapped to the old wooden chair. To blink would mean she would lose sight of the dot and then she would fail the test and this, she learned quickly, was something one would want to prevent.

So she sat there anxiously digging her claws into the rickety chair she was strapped to by her arms, legs and chest. The old piece of furniture had smiley faced medical equipment crudely depicted on it with peeling paint. She did not know how long she was strapped to the chair, there was no clock in the room with her and the doctors behind the glass were never ones to tell her anything more than what she was supposed to do. 

"Don't look away" she thought to herself, silently trying to motivate herself to keep going "keep looking, you can do it, just keep-"

Having self imposed tunnel vision, she failed to notice on the other side of the door there was a muffled sound of a struggle, more than likely a confrontation between doctors and a rebellious patient. But it all became too hard to ignore when a loud "BANG" shattered her concentration as something came crashing into the door. Enid instinctively turned her head to face the noise and before she could realize her mistake it was too late. 

BWAAAAAAAA

The long purple haired girl's heart dropped as from the screen came a loud electric noise and a message in big candy cane colored letters with a toothy, close-eyed smile on either end of the message. A cold monotone voice read out the message in a stiff and clunky manner.

"TEST. RESET. INITIATING. MOTIVATOR”

The test itself couldn't truly be “passed,” it would just go on until she lost sight of the dot, then she would have to do it again. Knowing this, the makers of the test added a way of "motivating" the subjects. The collar tightly clamped around her neck was a foreboding reminder of this fact and as she heard the wires awaken within the device, the purple haired girl's blood ran cold. She tried to plead with the doctors, but if they could hear her through the muzzle they in no way acknowledged it, only writing down in their notes. 

Seeing that her pleading was pointless, she somehow clenched the arms of her chair tighter than before, the wood cracking from her strength. Her breathing escalated and she closed her eyes as tightly as possible bracing herself for-

ZDZDZDZDZDZDZDZDZDZDZDZDZDZDZDZDZDZDZDZDZDZDZDZDZDZDZDZDZDZDZDZDZZDZDZDZDZDZDZDZ 

The patient’s head flew back and her body arched as much as it could with the restraints when a surge of electrical voltage traveled from the collar into her malnourished form. The pupils of her wide open cyan eyes had shrunken to just small dots and she let out an intense, loud but muffled scream of agony.

The surge only lasted a couple seconds, but to her it was an eternity. When it ended she slumped over in her chair, going limp as she took large heavy breaths, the occasional sob escaping as tears started to fall from her eyes and onto her lap. 

The music continued to play and a noise once again came from the screen in front of her, but she could not hear over the ringing in her ears. It eventually resided and she heard the last part of the message...

“-ESET. INITIATING. MOTIVATOR.”

The girl's head shot up to face the screen which was again displaying the message, the smiley faces bobbing back and forth as if to mock her for her failure.

"It restarts that fast!?" She thought, followed by the horrible realization of what was going to come next.

A chill ran down her spine as the collar around her neck once again hummed to life.  
\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

CH.1 The Ferry Ride

Before the rest of the memory could play out, Enid's eyes shot open. Her heart raced with panicked beats and her whole body shook. She leaned forward in her seat resting her head on the steering wheel and tried to calm her breathing.

"You’re okay," she whispered to herself in between heavy breaths. "You're out of there...they won't find you...you're safe, you. are. saf-" 

"Did you know your head does weird jolts when you sleep." 

Enid jumped back from the side window in surprise, her claws beginning to extend. On the other side of the car’s window was a man in his mid thirties. He wore a greenish black coat with barnacles seemingly stuck to it here and there, with overalls and a white turtleneck sweater. His face was extremely pale. What hair she could see that wasn't covered by a wool cap was pure black with streaks of white despite the man's age. His eyes were pure black as well, with a similar colored liquid-like substance falling steadily from them like rain water from a rooftop. He was currently looking at Enid with a look of confusion as though her reaction was unusual.

Her suspicion raised, she rolled down the window, still keeping her distance and spoke up "Who the hell are you and why were you watching me sleep?"

The drippy eyed man brightened up with this and pointed to himself, "Oh, I'm Gary. I'm the wake up call you requested," he answered cheerfully.

Enid looked at the digital clock on the dashboard of her van, it read 9:35. He was over an hour and a half late.

When the purple haired women told the man this he grimaced and rubbed the back of his head, the drippings of his eyes seemingly unaffected by the change of expression, before answering "Well ya see, I came over to wake ya, but saw you were still asleep... so I thought I'd wait till ya woke up so you wouldn't get upset."

Enid shook her head in confusion and looked at him as though the flaws in the man's logic were enough to physically hurt her. "You decided to wait until I was awake to give me my wakeup call?"

The worker did an awkward wince seeing the issue "Yeeeah..yep.." he began. "I see where I went wrong, that's my bad," he continued. 

A few moments of awkward silence followed before the man lightly clapped his hands together and spoke up "..Sooo you thinking about tipping me oorr-"

"Go away," interrupted Enid in a slightly threatening tone, shooting him a glare that made the worker’s body colder than it already was.

The Man began to back away from the van, his hands raised halfway as a sign of surrender "Yeah that's fair," he said inching away. "I got more rounds to do..have a good day." And with that, he made a speedy exit.

Enid sat up and took a look at her surroundings. She was still in her night attire of a black top and pajama bottoms with ninja stars on them, her long purple hair hung wildly and messily around her shoulders. She must have fallen asleep when she snuck into the front seat to listen to the radio last night, the large headphones she used still hung around neck where they had fallen in her slumber and Enid could still make out the faint music from the radio coming out of the plugged in device. She unplugged them and rested them on the top dashboard of the old lemon car.

It had taken her a whole year of odd jobs and other..less legal means to get enough money to afford the old jalopy, but it was worth it. Sure it made a weird noise when you turned on the engine aanndd there happened to be a..few weird red stains on the front..and the car seat..and in the trunk, also if it rained the engine would stall. Not to mention the weird smell that came out of the air condishi-.

Ok, it was a pretty crappy car, but that's fine, she could afford it and it was hers. It served her needs very well, all things considered. It got her from place to place at a much faster pace giving a big advantage over them and when night came and there wasn't any cheap motels, mostly intact abandoned buildings or big enough bridges, it was nice to have a nice warm(ish) place to rest just for her...Well, her and one other.

At that thought as if to give credit to the "speak of the devil" phrase, Enid heard a small yawn followed by the rustling of covers. She looked behind her into the rest of the car, the seats were pulled down for a more flat space to move around. On the right side was Enids "bed" consisting of two blankets and a makeshift pillow made out of an old duffle-bag filled with extra blankets, and on the right side separated by an old luggage bag filled with assorted books and toys was another makeshift bed. From the bedding one could see the covers shift and shake as the occupant moved around, concealed under the fabric save for their long dark brown hair and a small lightly tanned arm protruding from the side.

Raising from his sleep the boy sat up, letting the blanket fall to his lap rubbing his brown eyes with a yawn. He wore a pair of plaid pajama bottoms and a sleeveless white t-shirt, waking up a bit more the boy noticed the purple haired girl and grinned.

"Morning Enid," he greeted cheerfully to his guardian, who in turn took note of the second yawn he was trying to stop from forming.

"Morning Kaio," she answered, ruffling the boy's hair as she came over the child letting out a light laugh at this witch was interrupted by the growl of his stomach. "Hows about we get ourselves some breakfast?" continued Enid "Before one of us decides to eat up the other."

"I wouldn't do that!" giggled Kaio in response.

"Well maybe you wouldn't, but I Just might" Said Enid in a sarcastic tone earning another laugh from Kaio. 

The two settled down in the back for a nice healthy meal of slightly stale granola bars. It was quiet for a bit, the only noise coming from the muffled metal creeks and ocean waves coming from outside. 

Kaio bit into his meal and swallowed before breaking the silence, "So, how much further till we get there?" he asked with excitement equal to that of a golden retriever getting news of an impending car ride.

Enid took a moment to think "not sure exactly" she eventually answered "have to ask one of the workers, but it can't be too far". 

The boy processed this a moment taking another bite before asking another question "I wonder what sorta stuff they got over there?" he wondered. 

Enid smirked "There's all kinds of cool stuff there kido maybe after we get settled in we can go sightseeing" she told Kaio "just you and me".

"Really!! Cool!!" said Kaio excitedly by the idea but then pondered the last statement, "But isn't it always just us?" He asked, still cheerful after all he saw no issue with this it was just odd to him she felt the need to specify. 

At this Enid rubbed the back of her head and chuckled, "Hehe I guess you're right," she said trying to hide the unease in her voice. That was something she hoped to change with him by going there. For as long as Enid had been looking after the child and as long as Kaio could remember it had always been "just the two of them." This was not really much of a choice on her part, after all they were always on the move going from small town to small town staying in one place for no more than a month at the most. 

They had too you see, if they didn't then "they" would find them, it was hard enough evading them nomadically and there had been plenty of close calls where they were almost caught. It was different people each time and they were good at blending in, waiting days at a time for an opportunity, a point where her and Kaio were alone and they could make their move. Yet Enid never gave them the Chance. Lucky for the purple haired runaway they had a weakness in their disguise, one that she knew to look for and when she saw it, it was her sigh to get her and Kaio out of dodge and fast, but if all goes well, that might just change.

The rest of the morning passed on in silence and from it her thoughts returned to the memory she had re-lived in her sleep the night before. She could usually push these dark thoughts away fairly easily but this time was different. It was too real, too clear in her head, heck, she could still feel the phantom grip of the shocker around her neck. Enid knew if she didn't do something about this soon these memories could overwhelm her brain, consuming her for who knows how long. She couldn't let that happen now, she needed to clear her head. But how..how?!

"Enid?" Kaios voice pulled her out of her thoughts and she saw he was looking at her worriedly "Are you ok?" he asked.

Enid wondered how he knew until she saw what he was looking at. In her anxiety her claws had extended and were puncturing the floor beneath them. Feeling around her mouth she found her fangs had also extended. The purple haired girl muttered a curse and scrambled in her mind for an answer. 

"Oh, um..well," she fumbled trying to think of an excuse, then like a switch it came to her "Oohh well..ahh just- being all coup'd up in here all night must be getting to me," she lied, stretching her arms dramatically to illustrate her fake point. It seemed to work as Kaios’ demeanor seemed to relax a bit, but the boy’s guardian could tell he hadn't entirely bought it. 

"SAY!!" exclaimed Enid hoping to stop any further questions from the boy. "T-This place seems pretty neat, how about a little exploration?" she offered "See what we can find."

At this, Kaio perked right up, a wide smile spread across his face showing off his own fangs. (A/N: screw it everybody's got fangs, sue me) "Heck Yea that sounds great!"

Enid breathed a sigh of relief having avoided a VERY uncomfortable conversation. Reaching into the front passenger seat she grabbed her large blue coat, she felt that if this day was going to be like every other day she was going to need it. Then, slipping it on she then grabbed her away bag, an old side bag she used to carry things she may need throughout the day. With her jacket on and her bag secured, the purple haired guardian made her way to the side car door. Looking over at Kaio she saw him struggling to put on his green sweatshirt, which was currently stuck over his head.

Letting out a quiet chuckle she ushered him closer and helped him out of his self made imprisonment. Then helping him smooth out his long hair, tucking it into his sweatshirt, and finishing it off with another ruffle of his hair.

With everything set she turned back to the door, unlocking it with her car keys and with a click from the handle she opened the door and stepped into the muted grey light.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

It was just as Enid had expected, COLD. The frigid air was made worse by the wind coming from the ocean surrounding the boat. The young woman took a deep breath, the low temperature salty air feeling surprisingly good while she took a look around. 

The parking area of the Ferry went right down the middle of the ship. The upper decks resting on an archway making up the ceiling and walls of the parking lot, it was clear to the purple haired woman that at one point the area opened up at both ends of the boat, but at some point the left entrance was all blocked up by various materials. The area itself was mostly empty save for an ensemble of other vehicles, some of which were abandoned, if the thick layer of rust, lack of wheels and broken windows were anything to go by. 

On the other side of the room Enid saw the entrances to the restrooms, one boy and one girl, seeing an opportunity to get through her lingering unease in solitude she told Kaio that they had better go freshen up. With a nod of approval, Kaio took her hand and walked to the bathrooms. As the two split into the separate rooms Enid thought it would be good to make sure the boy remembered something important.

"Alright bud, remember," she said to Kaio putting on her best responsible adult voice, "if anyone on this ship tries to take you anywhere-"

Before the young women could finish asking the question Kaio reached into his back pocket and pulled out the pocket knife Enid got for him a few years ago, "Go for the ankles!" he said matter of factly "Unless they grab me, then the wrists or throat." 

"Read my mind like an open book," said Enid entering the women's restroom.

The interior appearance was much like the rest of the ship..dodgy. In the corners of the cracked tiled floors were heaps of dried algae, only the middle bathroom stall was useable out of the three as one was missing a door and the other was excessively boarded up with wood, sheets of metal and chains, with a message written in a language Enid didn't know but she guessed it was some kind of warning. 

She paid this little mind and made her way to the least grimy of the three sinks. Turning on the rusty faucet, she leaned over and splashed the cold water in her face (noting the strange fact that it was salt water), hoping this would wake herself up more and help get rid of her awful memories. Drying her face with a cloth from her bag she took a moment to look herself over in the mirror.

Strands of purple hair fell over her bright eyes, they were slit like her mother’s but cyan blue like her father’s. She took a moment to inspect her purple hair, it fell down only to the upper middle of her back, and although it was messy and unkempt from sleeping, she felt it didn't need to be cut as of yet. So she reached into her bag and took out a scrunchy and her comb and proceeded to tame her mop of hair into the usual style, the front part flowing over the right side of her face and the rest put up into a ponytail exposing her pointed pierced ears. 

Enid smiled a bit at the mirror, exposing a long fang. Next she inspected the rest of her appearance. Looking to her claws, extending and retracting them a few times. Then the purplenette took some time to admire the ink marks on her left appendage, a tattoo of the wiccan star was placed at the back of her hand along with the alchemist symbol of fire placed just above each of her knuckles. From her hands she moved on to her arms and the pain from before once again returned ever so slightly. 

All along her arms wear scars of varying shapes and sizes, each one representing a memory she would rather soon forget. The markings ran all over her, from her arms to her back, even on her lower jaw there were more faint scars (though that one she was a bit more proud of). Seeing them for too long always made these feelings she had worse, her clothes covered most of the markings but still some showed through, so once again she reached into her bag and got to work.

Pulling out the athletic tape, she began the routine of wrapping herself up, the act being more muscle memory than actual thoughtful intent. By the time she was done her arms and chest were covered in the wrappings, which in turn were covered by her clothing. 

"Out of sight out of mind," she mumbled to herself looking over the cloth and making the occasional adjustment tugs on the fabrics. 

Feeling her work was done and starting to notice the weird whispers coming from the boarded up stall, she gathered her things and made her way out where Kaio was waiting for her. 

He had cleaned himself well for someone his age, all things considered, and was at the moment struggling to tame the large beast of a hairdo that rested on his head. Letting out a light chuckle the elder of the two knelt down and gave the boy aid, fashioning his mane into a nice hair bun with a up folded front and a small ruffle in the back (think hairstyle from "let's watch the pilot"). Giving each other a thumbs up of approval they began their noble quest of actually doing something productive that day.

Their journey took them to the distant land of “The side walkway on the left of the ferry.” To their left, separated only by the rusty double barred barrier, was a vast Greenish black ocean stretching in all directions save for upwards which was dominated by the ever expansive cloud cover that encompassed every inch of the sky. The foreboding clouds absorbed most of what remained of the sun's light, making it even darker than it already was. Between it all, the ferry boat was the only man-made thing in this ever expansive realm of cold ocean and frigid wind that seemed to scream out in anger at the boat’s intrusion.

It should be noted the little tangent above was purely for the reader to visualize the scenery, in fact the duo that you've been following this entire time paid the encompassing aquatic scenery very little mind other than Kaio "Oohing" the pretty view as they moseyed along the walkway. 

"So," began Enid, "where do you wanna go first bud?"

"Ummm..." Kaio pondered this before realizing he didn't know much about the boat, "what is there to do here?" he asked.

"Oh wellll..uuhhh," began the older women confidently, but stopped when a similar realization dawned on her "..I..actually don't know what there is to do here," she paused again before continuing, "in fact I don't know much of anything about this boat other than where it’s going." This was followed by the fourth realization of the day (A new record!!) except this one she kept to herself "..That could actually be a problem." 

Luckily for the two, up ahead on the wall of the rust, barnacles and algae covered ship was a map of the vessel's layout. Thanking the heavens above for the aid in avoiding the awkward conversation, Enid looked at the map before her. 

The layout of the ship was shown on a slightly waterlogged and torn brownish paper. While as old as the ship, if not older, the map had been updated with the changes to the vessel, shown using sharpie markers on the glass case that encompassed the map.

"Ah, there see...'' said Enid pointing to the front of the boat labeled complementary diner. "How about a nice second breakfast?" she asked and took the boys ``mmmmmm"ing as a definite yes. 

Before leaving to the front Enid took one last look at the map and noticed a few..oddities. For one thing, the label for the Engine room was scribbled out, with "extra broom closet" taking its place in red marker then surrounding the boat picture were large black red and purple ovals overlapping each other and within it written in big capital underlined letters "ENGNE." 

"Huh," mumbled the young woman as she walked away, "weird."

As the two made their way along the walkway they passed another group of four. They appeared to be other passengers just hanging out by the walkway making small talk, but as the woman and child walked past they quieted down and eyed them suspiciously. 

The one on the left was an Irken, one of the refugee races from beyond the stars. She stood tall and proud like an officer which was offset by her choice of clothing, a dark grey coat over a faded pink invader shirt. A wool cap rested on her head with holes for the antenna with torn jeans and combat boots. Beside her was a robot, one of the awoken ones by the looks of them. The machine was one of the first models, bulky and simple in appearance, their face just two lenses and a speaker over a white round plate. They wore only a baggy pair of jeans held up by duct-tape. In their hands was an old doll that looked more at home in a victorian mansion..an abandoned one, it’s faded red dress torn and stained and it’s face chipped with hollow eyes, and an arm missing, a sharpened edge taking its place. 

At first Enid thought it was just a toy, but then noticed its head followed her as she walked.

The final member looked out into the ocean not acknowledging anything around him. This one looked almost human except his skin was veiny and the color of ash, their eyes covered by a torn black rag wrapped around their head obscured by the man's long messy hair. He wore a raggedy suit and tie and on his back was a rusty metal trash can tied securely with old rope around his waist.

The purple haired girl held her ward’s hand tighter and returned the four strangers stare with one of her own, as they made their way past. Silence filled the air as both sides waited for the other to foolishly make the first move.

When suddenly the trashcan on the blindfolded man's back snapped open just a crac Enid and Kaio jumped back, the older woman's claws extending in preparation as through the crack two glowing red eyes stared back at her. 

"DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM???!!!!" exclaimed the hidden being in the tin trash can, their voice echoing in the container.

The two were silent before Kaio spoke up hesitantly. "...No," he answered awkwardly from behind his caretaker.

The trash can’s eyes darted to the boy, "Hehehehehehe," they chuckled, "Good." He responded and with a loud metallic clang then closed the lid.

Everyone after that just kinda..stood there, any tension that might have been there was replaced with an awkward silence as no one really knew what to do after that. Enid looked to the group before her, the expression they gave her told her that this was an awkwardness they were used to. With no one saying anything, the young adult edged the child so as to put herself between the four and ushered Kaio along the walkway.

From behind them they both could hear a metallic voice more than likely from the group's robot "Why does he always have to ruin everything?" 

Moving on from their almost confrontation, Enid and Kaio finally made it to the front of the ship, but before entering a sign caught their attention. It was written on a sandwich chalkboard. The kind you would find at the front of a bar or restaurant, except on this one a message was written in bright red paint. it read:

WARNING!!  
IMPORTANT INFO!! 

Sometimes ENGINE needs to come up for air.  
It is important for passengers to know that  
looking directly at ENGINE may result in  
the following:  
-itchy/watery/bleeding eyes  
-ringing/bleeding from ears  
-nausea  
-and uncontrollable screaming

Passengers prone to seizures are advised  
not to come to the front of the ship if it  
can be avoided.

Thank you for sailing with us

:) 

Now Enid was no fool, she had already almost gotten into a full on panic attack, followed by getting into a poor excuse of a standoff, and now this. It seemed to Enid that the universe was trying to tell her that going about the ship, and perhaps partaking in this voyage overall, was a terrible idea and normally she would be inclined to take the advice from the cosmos and just take the boy back to the car and hunker down until their destination was reached.

But beyond this sign was the promise of a complimentary diner, complementary meant it was free, diner meant it had cooked food: FREE. COOKED. FOOD. and she had been, for the last three months, living off stale pre-packaged “food.” If she had to eat one more granola bar again she was going to literally throw herself into the murky depths of the ocean.

So yeah, the universe can suck it, she thought to herself and guided Kaio to the front of the ship.

Entering past the warning sign, Enid could see that the front deck had been made into a makeshift eating area for the diner. All over the deck were chairs and tables of varying types and quality. Amongst the tables and chairs were various passengers, each going about their day at varying levels of boredom and misery, they all paid the women and child little mind as they moseyed along to where the actual diner was.

The eatery rested where the other entrance to the parking area stood, but was instead a wall of crates, barrels, wood and nails. The words "Complementary Diner" were spray painted in large letters on two nailed together pieces of wooden sheets. It hung over a makeshift kitchen with various crates and barrels forming a half oval barrier between the cooks and the small line of passengers.

The two casually made their way to the back of the line and examined the menu that rested beside the front counter. A good chunk of it was just varying ways of serving fish, seaweed, or both. Meanwhile, the rest ranged from things labeled "Sals Nutri-paste" and "Homesteaders Meal Cubes." 

"How appetizing," she said, but given her hunger she wasn't sure if she was being sarcastic or not. 

As the line grew shorter at a slow and steady pace Enid’s attention wandered to the group in front of her in line.

It was a party of four people all relatively young she noted, the oldest looking no older than 15. Their group had caught her attention because of the two humans among them, which was surprising to Enid as humans weren't as common as they used to be. Nowadays Enid guessed that for every one hundred people she would run into only one would be a human. Sad really, but such is life. 

The two humans were most likely siblings, they both had light skin tone and curly brownish hair. The younger sister was currently engrossed in the data pad in her hands rambling about..well, Enid couldn't really tell, but it was more than likely something she wouldn't get. The human girl was speaking to the third member of their little gang, another newcomer from the void, this one Enid could recall, was an Uni..something..Uni..lee..uni..la..LU, THAT WAS IT. An Unilu, she could tell by the four arms and pointed ears. The Alien had her upper arm wrapped around the human’s shoulder and had their hands gently interlocked with the other girl's hand while the arm below it was wrapped around her waist. Enid couldn't help but find the sight a bit..cute, all things considered.

The final member of the group was a nagual, an anthropomorphic race that could take the form of humans if they wished, but from what she could tell they mostly stayed anthro. She was a canine of some sort, but Enid could not tell what type. She had a scarf and an old pilot’s cap with goggles. 

They each had their own style to their outfits save for one thing, on each of their left upper arms was a patch with a symbol on it. Enid recognized the symbol only vaguely, it was the symbol used by one of the old hero teams back in the day. it was called..vol..something..voltr..Enid didn't know but it had something to do with robotic lions from space for some reason, either way it wasn't around anymore. Of course none of the hero groups were really around anymore, the last one she heard about ended about, oh..a couple years ago at some place called Townsville and from what she heard it was NOT pretty. 

Either way the patches looked like they had seen better days, they were worn and faded and the one on the Moguel was peeling off the band she wore, and upon closer inspection, the wearers of the symbol looked little better. The canine girl was missing patches of fur in some places and her tail ended abruptly at a nub almost like it was cut off. The Unilus’ left upper-arm was missing a hand, a bundle of dirty bandages taking its place; the brother was missing his entire arm (Enid was surprised she missed that initially). Finally the young girl seemed to be blind in one eye if the white glossy look of it and the scar tissue surrounding it was anything to go by. 

To summarize, they looked like they had crawled out of a warzone (and judging by the smell, a sewer too). Although Enid couldn't judge too hard, when she was their age, wandering the highways and backroads she probably looked no different than them. Still, seeing kids like this, all alone, having to go through the nightmare that is..well everything, it tugged her heart strings. As the group left, Enid silently wished them luck, and with that, now at the front Enid stepped forward.

Before her was another one of the boat workers, a bit more muscular than the last man, but looked quite similar regardless. Same extremely pale skin, snow white hair, and the same black eyes leaking out a weird black liquid. His focus was split between the line of people and the glass cup he was washing in his hands. 

"Whaddya want?" said the man in an extremely thick accent. 

"What've you got?" asked Kaio, who was at the moment standing on his toes to look over the counter, the purple haired girl's heart swelled from the cute sight.

The grim looking man pointed behind him, not looking away from his cleaning, "Take your pick." 

The two looked behind him where along the ceiling was a long line of hooked...fish?...At least they were probably fish..at some point. They all seemed to have a few unique features to them. One had a giant eye where it’s head should have been (a human eye at that), another had three eyes and weird tendrils where the mouth should be, another had legs..and wings..bird wings, hell one was ENTIRELY covered in FUR!!!!

Enid spoke up "..Do you..have any other options?" she asked.

The man thought on this for a moment "We got pancakes." he answered.

Both Enid and Kaio both perked up at the mention of the delicious cooked delicacy, "Everyone’s eating the fish," said Kaio, looking over the other passengers who have also started listening in on the conversation. "Why aren't more people ordering those?" asked the boy.

The chef shrugged, "Nobody ever asked." From behind them a chorus of annoyed moans erupted from the passengers.

So Enid ordered the disk shaped goodies along with a bag of "Nutri-Cubes" for the both of them.

"Right, that'll be 25 monies please," said the chief cheerfully which earned a look of surprise and confusion from the purple haired girl.

"25 what?!!!" she exclaimed "The sign says the food’s free!!!" she continued. 

Now it was the chef’s turn to look confused, "What, no it don't," he said through his accent.

To this, Enid's response was to point to the "complementary" written on the sign above them. The leaky eyed man leaned over the counter awkwardly to see where she pointed, the makeshift counter creaking as he did so. Seeing what she was indicating, his expression changed from confusion to satisfied realization.

"Oooohhhh," he said before answering "Na na, you're mistaken, the option to eat here is complimentary, the food you got to pay for, see?" he said matter of factly. 

Enid Let out a loud groan of annoyance and considered just leaving, but another growl from her stomach convinced her otherwise. So she reached into her pocket and pulled out her glyph-tags. Connected to a chain ring were four small metal rectangle shaped bits of metal, covering the entirety of the metal blocks were tiny glyphs and on each one was a strip of tape with a label written in pen. 

Enid pulled out the one with the dollar sign written on the tape which she inserted into the device presented to her by the chef. When it went in, the Glyphs on the tag lit up bright purple and a hologram projected from the device showing a transfer of money. It finished with a cheerful jingle and the transfer was complete.

"All right," announced the chef, pulling out two vacuum sealed cubes and handing it to the bandaged covered girl, "here are the Nutri-cubes, your order should be ready soon." With this, the two left to find a seat. 

"Thank you for coming, have a nice day," said the chef before retreating into the kitchen. 

"Yah yah sure," said Enid miserably not even tuning to acknowledge him. 

With that taken care of, the two found a nice rusty old bench overlooking the ocean to rest at. After taking a moment to admire the grimly pretty sight of the greenish brown, grey waters before them, Enid proceeded to inspect her "Nutri-cube." The vacuum sealed packaging opened with a loud hiss as air invaded the now available space. She did not bother to read the list of ingredients on the front packaging as she knew it would only make eating it more difficult to muster. She broke off a peace, her heightened senses noting the chalky smell mixed with iron and..some kind of moss, braced herself, and then lightly tossed it in her mouth...

Enid has, up until this point in her life, made many bad decisions, believing at the times when they occurred that they were the best choice to make. This is to be expected, considering the life she was thrown into, so she was not one to dwell too hard on those times if she could avoid it. This means that she was never really one to rate her bad choices to see which was the worst.

But. The moment that piece of quote on quote "FOOD" touched her tongue, she knew right then and there that putting that in her mouth had to be one of, if not, the worst choices she has ever made in her adult life.

Within seconds of the material’s consumption she was bolting forward to the rusted railing, spitting out the wretched piece off into the murky depths followed by a few good spits to rid herself of any residual taste. Behind her Kaio approached.

"Sooo," he asked, "how do they taste?"

To this question, Enid said nothing and instead took the boy’s Nutri-Cube of horror and with all her might and all her strength chucked the accursed three dimensional squares as far as she could into the heavily polluted sea (from where it impacted, the women could swear she saw a few mutated bodies float belly up to the surface).

With the cubes from hell discarded into the murky depths, Enid remained hanging over the railing, as Kaio broke the silence.

"So..not that good then?" he asked.

To this Enid rose from the railing and walked over to the boy, taking a knee so as to look him in the eye she gently yet firmly took hold of his shoulders. 

"Kaio," she began in a deadly serious tone, "you may not fully understand yet..but I have just saved you..you’re welcome."

Kaio only looked on skeptically. "You..just saved me?" he clarified.

"Yes," confirmed Enid, never losing the dire tone.

Kaio went on, "From..an edible cube..."

"An edible cube from the DEEPEST PITS OF THE UNDERWORLD!" was Enid's response.

The boy tried to take his guardian seriously, he really did..but he was only human(ish) and so couldn't help but begin to chuckle at the entire scene. At first Enid took offence, but as it all came into perspective in her head she too began to chuckle. Unable to stop themselves, they both simply began to fall into a shared fit of full laughter. This was good, Enid thought to herself, she needed a good laugh with how the day was going, and if it had to come at her expense, then screw it. 

Stopping them both before then went into full hysterics, Enid guided Kaio and herself back to their claimed bench and relaxed the best they could, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. 

From a few feet away she heard a commotion, some kinda static sound, opening an eye to investigate she saw the source of the noise. On an elevated table, on a set of high stools sat two ad-humans, both Foxids if the fox ears and bushy tail on humanoid bodies were anything to go by. The parts of their bodies that weren't concealed by their large coats and wool caps (with makeshift holes to accommodate the ears), were wrapped up in old cloth pieces, (Enid would have judged, but figured she wasn't in much of a position to do so).

The noise came from the small old radio they were fiddling with, one Foxid was messing with the antenna and the other was sweeping through the channels on the dial and with a few more turns found an clear signal and the loud static gave way to the sound of trumpet like instruments playing the intro jingle of a broadcast followed by two voices.

"Good morning world, I'm Katie Killjoy!" Came the first voice, a woman clearly, with a tone of forced sarcastic cheerfulness.

"And I'm Tom Trench!" Introduced the second voice of a man with a more natural tone, but sounded like he was speaking through a filter of some kind. 

Tom went on to say, "Today's top stories include: The state of WW3, what's going on with that? Did we win, or what? Followed by: The sun, that thing slacking off? And should we be worried?"

Katie continued where Tom left off, "But before that, our first discussion corner of the day, today's topic: Pre collapsed governments, where are they, what are they doing and should we actually give a flying FU##+++##===##%%#" More static consumed the radio but this time the noise was different, this time it was more..warped and distorted.

But the Radio was soon forgotten as all around Enid, Kaio, and the other passengers and crew, the ferry began to creak and moan as the vessel started tilting upward from the front of the ship. 

"Oh what the hell is it now!!" cried Enid in a mix of annoyance and fear. 

The ocean waters surrounding the front of the vessel bubbled and steamed at an ever alarming rate. People all over the front deck held onto anything nailed down while others fled in random directions, a few even tried to peer over to get a better look.

Enid was part of the former category as she grasped the bench arm in one hand, with a leg wrapped around the bench’s own legs as well to better hold her in place. She used her available arm to grab Kaio, who held their bag in a tight, terrified grip. 

If it weren't for Enid's highly tuned hearing, she might not have heard Kaio yelling over the shaking boat and panicked people "What's Happening?!" 

"I,I don't know!" was all the purple haired girl could say. At this moment she was on alert, her hair was on end and her instincts were screaming at her to run, but she knew that doing so on such unsteady ground might not be the wisest choice. Her mind was racing. 

What was happening? Were they being attacked? If so, then by who, or what? Did something happen to the ship? Gods, was it them? Did "they" find them? What was it- 

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHAAAAAHHHHHAAAAAHHH"

Suddenly from the front of the deck came the sound of screaming, it came from three passengers who had managed to look over the railing, who were all now reeling back in terror and from where they were looking, something began to rise into view. As it slowly rose from the depths the realization hit Enid like a ton of bricks and all she muttered was a single sentence, as fear rose in her gut.

"That stupid board sign..."

As though sensing her realization, the rumbling grew in intensity. Without thinking twice she wrapped both arms around Kaio, shielding him from looking as much as possible.

"CLOSE YOUR EYES AND COVER YOUR EARS!!!!" yelled Enid over the growing chaos. 

"What!!" exclaimed the boy, eyes welling up in fear, "Enid what's going on-"

"JUST DO IT!!!" interrupted Enid.

With this Kaio compiled, his hands clapping over his ears, fingers tightly gripping the hair on the back of his head and his eyes closed as tight as he could, tears just barely slipping through.

But as for his guardian, she had unfortunately allowed herself to, for a moment, glance upwards, but that moment soon grew into what seemed like an eternity as she took in the unfathomable...THING towering before her.

Its form was an amalgam of contradictions, small enough to fit in the palm of her hand yet large enough to tower over the highest mountain. Its form warping and changing into all manner of impossible shapes, in colors that defied description. It was blind yet all seeing with its ever changing, yet non existent number of eyes, that to gaze into was to gaze at infinity. The absent yet all consuming maw(s) were ever expansive, that looking at was akin to gazing into the torn fabric of reality. Its infinite yet non existent tendrils that conveyed solidity if it were fluid wretched and flayed in improbable ways, grasping at everything around it, from the ship's railing to the polluted waters, to the very presence of the cosmos. The solid matter it touched seemed to fuse with the being while at the same time repulsed from it as it etched and flowed in a motionless way. 

Enid could not turn away, even when the very sight of it filled her with a primal terror. Her instincts seemed to have shorted out, screaming at her to run away, end her life, end other’s, and praise the abomination all at the same time. Yet she remained motionless just staring at the thing that should not be. Even when she felt a liquid substance beginning to pour from her eyes and down her face, she did not move. 

She made no sound, even if she did no one would hear. The screaming and crying from the others around her fell silent, replaced by the noise that erupted from the being of impossibility..by whatever gods remained, that sound.. 

It was what some might compare to gasping if one could assign such meaning to it, and it was both silent as a whisper yet roared louder than anything the laws of physics would allow. This noise burned into the hybrid woman's ears, invading her mind and filling every waking thought as her consciousness was filled with a menagerie incomprehensible sensations.

What seemed like an eternity passed as all at the front of the ship stood in petrified awe. But soon this being, this abomination, this unfathomable GOD took one last gigantic gasp of air..

and then immediately went back down under water below the ship, which in turn bobbed around slightly for a few moments and then continued it’s journey forward.

With her line of sight of the...whatever, broken, its effect on her wore off. Taking in mouthfuls of air like she had just reemerged from the salty sea that the..beast(?) called home. Enid tried to calm herself and once her breathing steadied she looked down at the shaking child wrapped in her arms. His face hidden from view and his entire body tense and crunched up into a little ball in the woman's lap.

Once she steadied her breathing further and made sure the boy was unharmed, she gently took hold of the child’s hands and pulled them away from his head. Kaio hesitantly looked up at his caretaker, his eyes still closed so tight wrinkles sprung on his face like broken glass, lips quivering unsure of what to do.

"It's okay, buddy," reassured Enid "It's gone you can open your eyes now."

With this Kaio’s eyes fluttered open, he was clearly shaken up and definitely a bit scared, but before Enid could do anything about it, the boy spoke first after noticing the state of his long time caretaker.

"Enid!!" He exclaimed with a shaking breath, "Are you okay?!" At first Enid was confused but soon caught on to the sources of his concerns. 

Looking at her shaking hands she saw that in her fearful state the claws on her fingers had once again extended to full length, and another quick feel of her teeth showed that her fangs had done the same. A few moments passed before she noticed a wet sensation on her face, and she remembered one of the side effects listed on the sign from earlier. She felt a tinge of panic and quickly wiped her cheek and inspected the liquid on the side of her face. 

She let out a sigh of relief when she saw it was only tears that spilled from her eyes and not the crimson alternative she had feared.

"Yeah..yeah bud," she finally answered somewhat truthfully, "I'm alright."

Feeling a bit more relieved, Kaio and Enid both took notice of their surroundings. With the indescribable horror gone, the chaos had settled a bit, but it was still present. 

Everyone they could see, save for the crewman, was in some form of distress. One passenger, another Irken, was busy applying handful after handful of tissues over there face in order to clean off the blood, the Foxids with the radio had just separated themselves from each-other’s terrified embrace and were now trying to calm their breathing while also attempting to act like they were not just acting like terrified children. From across the deck the human girl, who’s one good eye was covered in dried blood, was tending to her Unilu companion who was bent over on her hands and knees grasping at the part of her chest that housed her heart. The entire eating area was filled with the hectic sounds of confusion and fear as everyone struggled to get their bearings on what they had just experienced.

"What happened?" asked Kaio. 

Enid began to answer but realized that when she tried to remember what it was exactly she had seen, she could not remember an image. The feelings were there, still vivid and fresh as before but not what the..thing looked like. Not like amnesia, more like her mind was incapable of forming memories of the thing’s appearance.

"I-I don't know... exactly," finally admitted Enid, who chose to take this revelation as a good thing and just leave it at that.

Any further questions Kaio may have had were put on hold as a blaring noise came from the many speakers around the ship followed by a voice accompanied by a crackling static.

"Attention, attention to all of our lovely guests currently at the front deck/diner," said the voice, its tone could be described as cheerful and business-like.

"While we prefer to let our guests do as they please with little interference, we find that due to recent events we should have a small discussion regarding recent shortcomings on our part." Enid wasn't sure if she was listening to an emergency announcement or an old corporate apology video with how the voice talked. 

The speaker went on, "Now Please stand by for directions to the meeting area." This was followed by the sound of crumbled paper being unfolded "ahem" returned the voice as everyone including Enid and Kaio got ready to follow the voice’s direction.

"Turn around to face the upper deck..." this was followed by a long pause, clearly in waiting for the instructions to be followed.

As most people wanted answers, they complied and turned around to face the upper levels. Above them they saw three people standing at the railing. The one in the forefront was dressed in what was probably a very nice and fancy captains’ uniform..once, but it was now dirty, stitched together and had various scratchy, esoteric symbols etched onto it, matching the symbols tattooed on his face. In one hand he had an old crumpled piece of paper and in the other hand a radio speaker that was wired to the large radio controls in the shaky arms of the crewman to his left. 

With the third man on the railing with the captain, Enid could tell he was the first mate, from his authoritative stance, his observant expression, and the overall sense of importance that radiated from him.

But mostly it was because of the large name tag sticker on his right shoulder that read: "First Mate Jim". 

Seeing their arrival, the captain perked up, crumpled and tossed away the paper and threw the speaker over his shoulder into the waiting face of the radio-holder-man.

He stepped forward and addressed the crowd. 

"Good Morning everyone!!!!" he boomed, with a charismatic grin hindered by his leaking dark eyes and mysterious face markings. 

"Allow me to introduce myself," he gestures to himself, "I am captain Malbrathal, your helm man on this wonderful vessel."

Someone in the crowd spoke up, "Did you just say your name was mal brothel?"

The captain's demeanor changed instantly, "IT'S PRONOUNCED MALBROTHAL!!!" he yelled in annoyance and anger clear in his voice. "ONE WORD, WITH AN A, EMPHASIS ON MAL," he continued. 

In mere seconds his positive demeanor returned, but then faltered once again. "Now, I don't normally do this, but I feel the need to explain a shortcoming on the part of my crew." He gestures around him to further his point which was followed by a series of murmuring agreements mixed with a few sarcastic remarks on the side of the gathered crowd.

He went on, "You see, my crew have made a terrible error. The reason for this is nothing more of lack of judgement on their part entirely." This seemed to earn a few confused looks from the passengers and quite a few of the crewmen present (the crew seemed more offended than confused).

His attitude almost instantly returned once again before going on, "But I am not one to fester in my own crew's mistakes, but rather to take action to prevent it in the FUTURE!!!..." The Captain finished this part with an arm raised dramatically into the air and an equally dramatic pause as he waited for an applause from the audience before him who all stood staring, unsure of what to do.

Enid winced at the awkwardness, looking around at the crowd of still recovering traumatized refugees around her. She saw others looking away in discomfort while some gestured to him with a motion that seemed to say "Gooo oooon," but the captain remained silent. Now, while Enid did not care much for drawing attention to herself, the raggedy captain might have known something important about that "thing." If not, then, well, she just wanted to get this whole mess over with and just maybe get some semblance of a plot going. So sucking up the performance anxiety, she did the only thing she could think of. Giving him what he wanted. 

Clap..Clap..Clap With hesitation she clapped like she assumed the Captain wanted them to do. At first everyone looked at her with even more confusion, but seeing both the Captain's smile grow wider and seeing the first mate, the only other member of the Glyph facedman's entourage currently paying attention and not on the ground nursing a speaker shaped bruise on his head, had started giving subtle gesture telling them to "keep it up." 

And so, with as much enthusiasm as a forty year old paperclip salesman named Gary, members of..the audience began to clap to the man's dramatic statement, with a few even adding a "yaaay" and the occasional "wooo" to further the point. 

Now with this, the captain broke his spontaneous vow of silence. "There you go, now, rest assured that we have already seen fit to take the necessary precautions to prevent this incident from ever happening again."

The courtesy cheers continued for fear of him stopping again, but now a few of those cheers were at least a little genuine now, so you know..silver lining.

The showman of a Captain continued with vigor and enthusiasm while he soaked up the crowd’s begrudgingly given praise and applause. "Yes, yes, by this afternoon we will have the new printed menus ready for your eating convenience..."

As though flicking a light switch, the kinda roaring crowd fell silent as it seemed all present took a double take. A singular member of the now silent congregation, a Haloed One Ad-Human woman, judging by the glowing halo and the pair of wings poking out of a rubber poncho, spoke on behalf of all present. "W..wha..what?" Stuttered the women.

The captain cheerfully answered "You know..menus!" This was met with silence, "...So that you know what the diner has available," the oblivious Captain continued, "so you don't all have to get the same thing.."

Still the crowd was silent and if any onlookers were to be present at this time, then they would swear you could feel the patience of the assembled crowd drain away as though pulled by the never ending darkness of the ocean around them.

The Captain, ever oblivious, spoke up again. "Now, now, there's no need to thank me-" That was all he managed to get out before the mob of passengers erupted with shouts and boos mixed in with a plethora of "ARE YOU KIDDING ME’S” and "THAT'S WHAT THIS IS ABOUT'S" with a good number of very creative, yet also vulgar insults toward the Captain, so vulgar in fact that Enid instinctively covered Kaio's ears, while she too joined in the angered complaints with the others.

After dodging the occasional heavy blunt object thrown his way, the egotistical Captain spoke again. "People, people!" he cried, "Should you not be happy that the crisis has been averted?"

The mob settled enough to allow a few people to speak up and be heard. "We aren't here about the bloody food, you nitwit!!" exclaimed an Irken from way in the back.

"Then what are you so worked up about?" the glyph-faced man asked.

"Oh, I don't know, how about the horrible monstrosity that just poked out of the water not 5 minutes ago?!" said an older and very sarcastic Okami Ad-Human woman.

The captain looked puzzled, "What on earth are you-" a wave of realization spread across his face, "Ooooohhh you mean "Engine." 

"Why the Hell do you call it that?" asked another, though how he spoke with three eyes and no mouth was beyond Enid's guess.

With a nonchalant shrug, the Captain simply said, "What else would we call the thing moving the boat?"

It seemed out of nowhere everyone must have instantly formed a hivemind for a solid second as they all uttered the same word:

"WHAAAAAT?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?"

The semi-raggedly dressed man attempted to calm the crowd. "Now, now," said he, but before he could go on he was interrupted yet again.

"The Hell do you mean "runs the ship!?” exclaimed a one-armed awoken android, the side of his face that still had synthetic skin conveying his horror.

"IS, thIS BoAt beING POWered BY an ELDRITCH ABomINatION!?" asked the awoken beside the android, conveyed through a speaker where a mouth should be and using various audio clips.

"Weeelll.." answered the Captain, in a manner that one would give describing why you used ink in a printer "less powered by... more riding on one."

All anyone could do with this info was to stare on in shocked, horrified, and confused silence again, prompting an annoyed groan from the illustrious Captain.

"Oh, come on," he said clearly annoyed with their reaction, "it's not that bad!"

This caused yet another uproar from the crowd. "Not that bad??!!" exclaimed the three eyed man from earlier.

"My left eye won't stop bleeding now!" complained an Irken still applying napkins to said eye. 

"When I saw it I started eating the pages out of my books, and I somehow ate through two and a half encyclopedias!" cried another Fexnid waving above them the cover of a once large book, it’s contents almost entirely devoured. "I don't know if I should be concerned or..impressed with myself." 

The half-faced android spoke up again, pointing to the usagis Ad-Human beside him looking off into the distance. "Berry over here is deaf now!" They turned to Berry "Tell ‘em, Berry!"

"WHAAT?" asked the oblivious rabbit-human Berry. 

"And what about me?!" shouted another Okami resting on a bench, applying a once white towel to an eviscerated arm, "When that was all happening, someone carved this weird word onto my forearm," he said indicating to his wounded appendage, "and whenever I try saying it a bunch of eels slither out my mouth!"

"What's the word?" asked a Nearby Unilu. 

The wolf-human hybrid removed the towel to inspect the wound, "It says Oblino-" the rest was followed by agonized hacking as everyone nearby started to panic.

"Good lord they’re everywhere!!" exclaimed the now one eyed Irken. 

"Why do they have human teeth?! That makes it so much worse!!" cried the three eyed mouthless man.

The Captain, sensing an impending lawsuit, tried to divert blame. "Hey, I don't see what you all are complaining about, we had a sign and everything that clearly states what can happen," he explained, "so you all have no right to complain."

Various versions to the question "What sign?" erupted in response, leaving the balcony man speechless once again. 

"...The..the sign..the one that told you about ENGINE..and about what can happen if you look at it..that sign," said the Captain.

The various deadpan stares told him that most present were not aware of any such sign. The second mate saw fit at this moment to step forward and state simply.

"I told you we should have put that in a more obvious spot."

This was followed by more shouting from the gathered crowd. What transpired next, one could not tell at this point, but Enid had reached her limit with this entire thing.

Quickly she rose from the rusted bench. "Come on Kaio," she said tiredly, rubbing the bridge of her nose, "let's get out of here."

"Ahhhha" whined the child to his caretaker, "but I'm still hungry..."

"I'm sure we still have something back in the car," she answered, offering a hand to the small child who accepted it with some remorse. 

As they turned to leave, slithering up to them was one recently regurgitated eel glaring at the two and baring its uncannily human and oddly well kept teeth as it sped towards them.

But all it took was Enid baring her own fangs, accompanied with a mix of a hiss and a snarl to send it fleeing in the opposite direction. 

Enid Recoiled at the sight "That guy was right," she said, "the teeth do make it worse." 

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The ocean waves crashed together behind the rusted vessel, blocking out most of the roaring crowd on the other end, making it the perfect place, in Enid's opinion, for getting her mind off things. So here she rested, leaning over the rusted metal railing of the back of the ship. Kaio sat not so far away, dangling his legs over the edge as he scanned the waters around the boat, hoping to catch a glimpse at something interesting. 

What am I doing? Thought the purple haired werepire as she overlooked the dead ocean stretching over the horizon. "Was this a bad idea?"

She went over the events of the morning to herself and it was doing nothing to help with the doubt she had growing in the back of her mind. In just a few hours she almost had a panic attack, nearly got into a fight, almost ate poison, actually ate poison, and then almost got her mind and soul ripped apart by an eldritch engine!!! Actually looking back things really escalated there near the end, and this revaluation did not help her confidence either.

This was a bad idea, a dangerously bad idea, she went on the doubt shortening her breath and lumping up in her throat.

She thought back to the night before, when she spent half of what little monies they had to get on the accursed boat, that desperate chaotic night filled with fire and screaming crowds. What was I thinking, I knew doing this was risky, I knew leaving to get away from them was a longshot. She cursed internally, her grip on the battered metal rail tightening.

All of this on the assumption that they can't get us over here, why the hell would I think that?!! She berated herself, going on to think, for all I know they’re waiting for us when we get there. 

Another dark thought came ..Or worse, they’re here now on this ship, just waiting to get us, waiting for me to slip up... Fear soon joined doubt in her mind, her breathing growing faster and heavier as it did. 

Oh gods, they are, aren't they? They’re either here or over there waiting for us! Panic soon began to make its way in with the other two overwhelming emotions. 

What the Hell was I thinking? This is stupid, we should have just stayed, we had a good thing going on!! At this she paused, catching herself and contemplating the mental statement. 

...Didn't we? She thought, even though she knew all too well what the answer was. 

She looked back to her memories as far as she could. Since leaving that place it was out of the pan and into the flames in a way. For all that remained of Enid's adolescent years and all of Kaio’s life, they knew only of cracked, ill kept roads surrounded by empty, frigid, and polluted deserts or charred, dead, and dark forests. 

She recalled those nights that happened all too often where they found themselves going without either food, water, warmth, shelter or all of the above. The many dangers and close calls brought on by deranged bandits or rampaging crazies, and that's if you were lucky.

She also remembered the things that seemed to come out of nightmares. From towering three-eyed elk like things that silently stalked the night looking for things to tear limb from limb using perturbing tendrils from their backs to rip and tear with uncaring eyes, to pale, twitchy, thin feral humanoids with hollow eye sockets that ate your skin with chipped yellow teeth and nails. Or there were even the many possessed war machines that left devastation wherever they went, waging a war for countries and causes that no longer existed. And those were only a few examples of the nightmarish monstrosities Enid had seen over the years.

Even if you did find a town or settlement of some kind, it was either a pitiful ensemble of poorly kept buildings and shacks that looked like a gust of dusty wind would tear it all down in an instant, populated by people that looked little better, with ragged clothes over bony bodies with sunken fearful eyes. Or they would be massive walled fortresses led by some egotistical warlord or self proclaimed faith leader; the people within, paranoid and ready to wipe out any newcomer they suspect to be a threat. 

Reminded of all that Enid knew ..No, no we didn't, it was just a matter of time before.. she did not want to finish that thought. 

The hybrid woman took a deep breath, she was letting her thoughts get the better of her, she needed to do something to distract herself. 

Looking around the back side of the ship she took in her surroundings.. Their station wagon was not too far away, in all its run down, beat up glory, slightly weighed down by the many bags and belongings tied to the roof. Enid didn't really need a reminder of the life they were stuck in for so long right now, so she looked elsewhere.

Among the cars, both the owned and the abandoned wrecks was an old van. It had more rust on it than enid thought was possible, and while she saw the front window and the open side door, she could see none of the interior as it was filled with a misty blackness that seemed to leak out a foot away from the van. on it’s side, it read in black paint: "The Awesome Store" with the caption, "A wondrous collection of useful trinkets..for a price." The fact that the van looked like it belonged outside a school advertising free candy alone raised a red flag to the purple haired girl, everything else was just raising it higher.

Finally her eyes settled on the least shady option, to her right on the corner of the ship was some kind of round table with a few available seats. The table itself was completely covered in servers and plug-ins, the wires haphazardly intertwined as well as snaking up a long metal pole pointed high in the air, hooked up to a number of array dishes and receivers along the pole. It’s purpose was revealed with a cardboard sign read: "Free Mage-net access." This caught her attention, surely a little mindless surfing of the net could distract her enough. Informing Kaio where she was going and to stay where she could see him, Enid made her way to the mass of wires and cables.

Approaching the wired amalgam she saw, on another piece of cardboard, a warning: 

"Notice:" 

"This is for accessing the MAGE-NET, anyone found trying to  
purposefully access the INTERNET will be fed to Engine."

This sent a shiver down Enid's spine. Why anyone would want to try to get a hold of that deranged network of cosmic corruption and horror was beyond her. 

Waving away the nerves in her mind, she pulled out her phone. It was an old "holo-phone" which took the form of a dark greenish brick shape, with a glass circle on one end on top with a little mouse sphere built in the opposite end of the glass. Three buttons on the left side of the device were also present, one for power, the other two for volume. All-in-all a pretty cheap and rugged thing worn with age.

With her free hand she pulled out an extension cord in a hidden compartment on the back of the device and plugged it into the closest available port. A small short jingle from the phone indicated the connection was established, and with a click of the power button, the in built Ether-battery flowed aether into the inbuilt Illusion spell glyph which projected a holographic screen through the glass circle for Enid to view and interact with.

The hologram itself was prone to glitches and the only two colors it had were black and green, not to mention the only way to interact with the projection was the little ball that tended to get stuck or loose at the worst of times. Just an overall cruddy phone, but hey, it's a holographic phone, what more do you want?

(Ironically that was the slogan the company that made it used to promote the product).

Back to Enid, she had started browsing her usual digital stomping grounds, aimlessly browsing "social-media'' (yes that's the name, the company that owns it was not the best at naming things), where trendy hashtags and shitpost mixed with megacorp accounts and maddened cultest ramblings. Moving on to "video-site" (at this point they fired the naming guy), where among cat videos and funny skits there were compilations of roving gang battles and crazies vlogging their unspeakable acts, followed by more cat videos. 

Surprisingly, as much as she tried, none of this was really doing anything to ease her ever growing anxiety. 

Enid was stuck. 

Stuck in her head. 

Stuck in the growing questions she could not answer.

Stuck on a boat manned by crazed sailors.

Stuck on a messed up planet. 

And stuck on a path to uncertainty that she had put herself on, but to make things worse she had forced Kaio along for the ride. 

Enid found herself clenching the side of her head, with a handful of her hair still attached to her scalp held tightly in the grip of her free hand as tears began to well up in her eyes. At this point it was accurate to describe her as a massive ball of depression and anxiety taking the shape of a person holding a phone. For the most part, during episodes like these, where her mind dipped into that empty chasm of overwhelming emotion, she at least was able to keep a facade of control over herself in how she interacted with the world, keeping up a clever ruse. But not this time.. She was just glad Kaio was over there and not here to see her like this. 

Ding

Enid was pulled from her downward spiral by a small ding from the Holo-phone. It was a notification that informed her of a new message. Figuring that she might as well, she opened it expecting it to be some kinda spam or advertisement, but was surprised to see that it was in fact neither. 

It was from a site she had frequented many times the day before called "Albrek Housing Real Estate." It read:

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++  
"Important Update"

"We at AHR are happy to inform you that out of all who bidded for Apartment housing #84165-D, yours was the highest at $1,903. Please meet at the address found below in two days to receive the required materials."

We'd like to thank you for choosing Albrek Housing Real Estate

Albrek Housing Real Estate  
"We don't ask questions, and neither should you."  
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

What lay below this was just a link to the apartments info page on the site which was, to put it generously..lacking. Not even having a photo of any kind showing the actual apartment, yet it was the cheapest one she could find.

Enid stared wide eyed at the projected screen. She remembered bidding on the site yesterday, but it was more of a spur of the moment thing, really. An action brought on by the rush of actually being on their way, she never really put much faith in it, but it seemed to her surprise it actually pulled through. 

Now, a distance away from her, but a distance getting less and less large with time, there was a house waiting. Her house. In her younger years, Enid probably would not have gotten all worked up over owning a cheap house; heck it wasn't even an actual house, more of an apartment, if she was lucky. But that Enid hadn't had to live years worth of time on the desolate road with only a beat up old station wagon for shelter for a third of that time. Now, she had her own actual solid home. A consistent and (hopefully) secure place for her and the boy. 

Plus it gave her a plan! 

Get there, find the corporate guy, move in and then find a job to support them. Sure, to be fair this could only be considered a plan if you were to apply the most basic and broad definition to ever be applied to the word "Plan."

But considering before this she had absolutely NO plan, broad or otherwise, this was a big step in the right direction. Quickly she browsed down the screen to find the address and-

"Someone looks like they've been on an emotional journey."

In splitting her attention on the holo-phone and keeping an eye on Kaio she had not noticed the man approaching from behind until he spoke, causing Enid to flinch and let out a small yelp in surprise before flashing around, ready to defend herself, only to find one of the ship's leaky eyed crew members standing before her also reeling back regarding her reaction, almost dropping the plastic bag he carried. 

The werepire girl was surprised to find she recognised the crewman. 

"Sorry," began Enid, sincerely lowering her stance of attack. "It's Gary, right?"

Gary perked up. "Yep, that's my name," he answered. 

"So..what is it that you need?" asked Enid.

He jumped a bit in realization. "Oh well, you see I've come to deliver an apology and compensation for the ship's shortcomings."

Enid let out an annoyed groan. "Dude I don't care about the menu sh*t, okay?!!" she said firmly and angrily, folding her arms in annoyance and to keep herself from clawing something.

Gary replied, "Oh no, not about the diner, I mean about the incident with "Engine."

This surprised Enid, "Oh, really?"

Gary nodded. "Yes, with the benefit of hindsight, we now see we should have found a more ideal time to inform people of that particular aspect."

Enid interjected, "Yeah, in case you were wondering that ideal time would be BEFORE people boarded the boat."

Gary nodded in contemplation. "Duly noted." He then proceeded to write this down in a notepad he pulled from one of his pockets. "You know we've been getting that a lot lately."

Enid Rolled her eyes, "And why exactly didn't you tell anyone about that thing driving the boat?"

The pale and sickly man simply shrugged, "Nobody asked."

Enid resisted the urge to let out another more audible groan of annoyance. "Ok, well if that's everything-"

This time Gary interjected, "Oh, there's one more thing," he said and handed her the plastic bag he had been carrying.

Enid hesitantly took the bag from the man, the sweet smell catching her attention. "What's this?'' she asked.

"Your meal," explained Gary, "you left before you could get it." He then pulled out a rune covered metal square similar to the one Enid carries. "It also comes with a full refund." 

"Wow..." was all Enid could say at first, taking in both the monies and the delicious aroma from the containers. "So the Captain’s really stepped up, huh?" she went on as she connected her rune covered dog tag with Gary’s to receive the refund.

The crewman shook his head. "It's actually orders from the Captain's first mate," he explained, "the captain’s still arguing with some of the people still bothering to stay upfront."

"Oh." Was all Enid said on that, that made a lot more sense. She went on, "Well, tell the first mate I appreciate the sentiment."

"Appreciative enough for a tip?" Gary inquired.

"Not even remotely," shot back Enid almost immediately in the same threatening manner as earlier. 

The black eyed sailor nodded quickly. "Yep, your right, overstepped again, my bad!" he backtracked. And with that the two exchanged goodbyes and Gary trudged off to fulfill his other duties and Enid turned back to Kaio who seemed to, at some point, become aware of their conversation as he had turned his attention away from the ocean and to his guardian.

"What were you guys talking about?'' asked Kaio as Enid walked back to where he sat and settled back down beside him. "Are we in trouble?"

Enid let out a chuckle "No, no, we're not in trouble...THIS time," answered the older girl, the last bit in an exaggerated tone earning a chuckle from Kaio. "He just wanted to apologize for earlier," she further explained before reaching into the plastic bag and taking out the two plastic containers, keeping one and handing the other to the boy, "and to drop off this." 

Kaio had already taken an interest in the white plastic container just by smell alone, but as soon as he opened the container and saw the delicacy within, a wide, watery smile spread across his face. Enid, after handing the boy a pair of utensils from within the bag, was about to dig into her own meal when Kaio somehow drew his attention away from the hot edible disks before him and back to his guardian.

"Hey, Enid?" Asked Kaio hesitantly, earning the worried ear of the elder of the two. "Is..everything alright?" he finally asked.

Enid at first stumbled to find a response. "What..what do you mean?" she said, trying to sound casual.

Kaio thought for a moment trying to find the right words. "Earlier this morning you looked upset..you said you were fine..but," he paused, "then as the day went on it looked like it got worse..and then I noticed you were looking really upset a few minutes ago.." at that he waited for Enid's reply. 

Enid took a few moments to think about her response until finally answering, "I'll admit..this morning I was..kinda in a rough spot..mentally speaking."

Kaio tensed up, turning away from Enid. "Its..it's not about..that place..was it?" he asked with a growing fear in his voice.

Enid caught onto this and knew she had to ease things. "It's nothing you need to worry about little buddy..I got ways of dealing with that stuff."

"I know that," said Kaio, "but..I worry sometimes, E."

To this Enid Gave the Child a warm grin, "I know Kiddo," she said with a ruffle of his hair, "and I'm pretty grateful I got a kid who's looking out for me," she went on, "but really..I'm good." 

This seemed to satisfy Kaio’s worries, at least a little, and so he returned his attention to the hot meal before him, as did Enid with her own. If she was being honest, the fear and anxiety had not entirely gone away. But right now she was with her kid, had a hot meal and was looking out over a..let’s say.... passable ocean view on their way to a new life, so she figured that there would be time for worrying later. 

At this moment of peace, of simply enjoying that moment, a tiny bit of hope made its way into Enid's icy heart. It came softly, slipping through the cracks and into her core, but when it got there she decided to let it stay, at least for now. 

Above the duo, hanging over the archway entrance to the parking area of the ferri was an old sign, the kind that had parts than spun to change the words and symbols. Whatever was originally on it was gone, painted over to serve its new purpose. The sign now read:

TIME OF ARRIVAL IN: 002 DAYS

DESTINATION: 

New Kowloon City 

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Elsewhere, far away from Enid and Kaio, but a distance that was steadily decreasing, there rested an old building, one of metal and concrete, it’s purpose never fulfilled for reasons long forgotten by all. Now it’s purpose was simply to collect dust, and collect it did, covering all surfaces of the building in a thick layer of dust and accompanied by an imposing silence, both of which were broken only by the occasional pitter patter of what used to be rodents and roaches.

In this place rested a room no different than the any other rooms that lay there, save for a red glow that broke through the darkness from one of the few things in the silent tomb that was still powered, an old exit sign that hung from above a simple metal push door, chained from the inside with large, heavy rusted chains.

This building lay silent and undisturbed for ages, until one day, from somewhere deep in the facility came the sound of a loud metallic...

BANG!! BANG!! BANG!!

This was followed by the sound of a rusted metal door that had not been used in years opening with a loud CREEEEEK!! When the door once again fell still, a large crowd of quick hushed whispers filled the air to take its place. The sources of each whisper spread across the building moving quickly, doing their best not to make a sound and leaving trails of obscured dust as they all steadily found their place. With each at their station, the building once again fell silent, but this only lasted an hour as from the same entryway as the whispers came another sound.

Tap, Tap, Tap, Tap, Tap

The tapping of boots on metal filled the air in a calm, casual rhythm, steadily working their way across the building until reaching the center. The silence this time was only for a few seconds before all around the lone walker from each hushed whisperer came a loud and booming roar, some even accompanied by sharp, piercing pows of gunfire, itself accompanied with flashes of harsh light as they all converged on the middle visitor. Soon the darkened place was lit with the flashes of powder propelled lead along with the sounds of war cries and clashing metal.

But as little time went on, this was soon replaced with the sounds of breaking bones, agonized cries cut short, and sharpened, hardened steel slicing through feeble meat. 

After a little time had passed the noise subsided, but even this was replaced with the desperate panting and running of two, the noise growing louder to anyone if they were in the room with the exit. From the door opposite the red glow, the sources of the noise came bursting in, sending a wave of dust across the concrete box causing one intruder to enter a short coughing fit. The two concealed their true forms with thick coats and masks that displayed a face composed of dots and a mix of lines and triangles to display a sharp toothed grin. 

Yet despite the mask's expression, the two were clearly very much distressed.

"What the holy f##k was that?!'' Cried one of the masked men discernible from the other by way of the Fu Taos he held tightly in each hand. "How many people did this guy bring?!"

"Who cares man!" Answered the second this one, unarmed having lost his firearm in the fray "Let’s just frickin’ go before he finds us!" 

To this the armed man nodded in agreement and the two bolted to the exit, but found to their dismay it would not budge.

"Oh come on, man!!" came the annoyance of the hook man, "Who the Hell chains up a fire exit?! That's just stupid!"

To this the one beside him frantically reached into his pocket and pulled out a lockpicking kit and got to work on the old heavy lock, but they heard to their horror the thundering sound of boots on metal making their way to the desperate trio.

"S##t," muttered the lock picker. "That freak’s found us, we’re done for man, game ov-"

"SHUT IT!!" The hook man said, frustration used to hide the fear. He made his way to the door frame to the hallway. "I'll hold ‘em off, you get that door open!" And with that he sped down the hall leaving the other to frantically fiddle with the heavy metal mechanism that withheld their escape, nervous mutterings cascading from his mouth involuntarily.

From the hallway the building was once again filled with the crescendo of metal clashing against metal, a strike occasionally accompanied by a flash of light lit by a spark between colliding blades. 

All through this, the lock picker toiled away struggling to keep his head clear and his fingers steady. He was close, very close he just had to get a few more minutes aanndd..

Click

With that the lock sprung open and the chains once binding the door closed for years unceremoniously slithered down, clattering to the floor. 

The man laughed and called to the other, "HEY!! I got it open!!" He cried, "Let's get the Hell outta here!!" 

It was at this point he realized that while blocking out all distractions he failed to notice the silence that filled the air now. Quickly the man spun around to call to his armed comrade.

"Hey man, quit fooling around, we gotta g-uuuha," that was all that the lock picker could get out at that point.

To say that those would be the last things the man would ever say, could be considered untrue to some folk, after all. 

Some might consider the sounds one makes when their chest is forcibly punctured to be words, in the broadest sense of the term at least.

For that is what happened to him, and that is the sounds he made. A guttural choked groaning sound, accompanied by the pitter patter of his blood splashing on the dust covered floor beneath him mixing with the blood dripping from his mask after being hacked up by the lock picker. All he could do was grasp at the figure before him, who stood tall and unmoving holding the lock picker steadily, yet firmly, with his left hand.

For the briefest of seconds he wondered where the freakish beast's other hand had gone, but the sensation of fingers worming their way in the man's body from the new hole in his chest put an end to that question. 

Eventually the large figure’s hand came to rest, as they wrapped around the organ it sought and with a firm twist the blood pumping vital organ was ripped from its place.

With this, the masked man started to fade from the mortal plane and the last thing he would ever see was a pair of bloodshot eyes staring back at him wide and unblinking through a pair of glass lenses accompanied by the sound of heavy breathing through a filter.

With the last now formally alive attempted assassins taken care of, the figure allowed the vacant body to flop to the side on the floor, nonchalantly tossing the newly procured heart with its former owner. Proceeding then to inspect his now bloodied gloved hand and sleeved arm, he let out a small, slightly annoyed sigh. The lone figure gave his now blood drenched appendage a few quick shakes to clean off at least most of the blood.

Satisfied with his cleanup, the thundering figure stepped over the corpse and pushed through the unlocked door.

Once again, the building fell into a long silence and already dust began to settle in the large building of metal and concrete.

End of Ch.#1

**Author's Note:**

> well there you have it.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed it, I've already started on the second chapter, so look forward to that. :)
> 
> thank you for taking the time to read this. X)
> 
> -AUarchivist


End file.
